Minnesota – Yesterday (January 23, 2013), Minnesota sheriffs – experts in both crime and politics – joined judges and legislators in proposing fact-based, realistic solutions to the problem of violence in our society.

These proposals focused on enforcing existing laws and making government bureaucracies do their jobs without infringing on the rights of the law-abiding 99%

The Minnesota Sheriffs Association, represented by Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek and Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson, laid out five specific recommendations:

Improving the completeness and accuracy of the state criminal records system

Making Minnesota courts quickly and accurately report civil mental health commitments that result in a firearms prohibition

Making these public mental health commitment records instantly available to street cops so they know who they may be facing when they arrive at a call for service

Providing earlier mental health assessments for jail inmates, so they get the help they need sooner

Reassessing Minnesota’s civil commitment laws to ensure that dangerously ill people get the treatment they need

GOCRA fully supports these policy proposals, and applauds the sheriffs and other coalition members for focusing on real, solvable issues, and not on fear-mongering. GOCRA also congratulates Senator Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park), formerly an opponent of gun rights, for signing on to this practical approach.

These elected leaders and sworn law enforcement officials recognize that their law-abiding, gun-owning constituents are not the cause of societal violence, and that infringing on the Constitutional rights that they swore to support and defend will not make us safer.

Their common-sense, to-the-point recommendations should be given immediate attention by the Minnesota Legislature.

Please take a moment to contact your sheriff and thank him or her for supporting these proposals, and contact your legislators to urge them to act on them. As always, their contact information is below, if we have your address.